Effect of Ag doping on the structural, morphological, optical and antibacterial activity of ZnS nanoparticles

Abstract

In this study Ag-doped ZnS nanostructures for antibacterial activity were prepared by means of a facile wet-chemical method. XRD study reveals a decrease in the intensity of XRD peaks and the presence of an additional peak for silver which further affirms the incorporation of silver ions in ZnS matrix. The synthesized 1% Ag-doped ZnS nanostructures have the average particle size distribution of 16.45 ± 0.13 nm based on the TEM image. The antimicrobial activity of pure ZnS and Ag-doped ZnS were evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The results show that the bacterial inhibition was enhanced due to the doping of Ag into ZnS matrix in contrast to ZnS. This results obtained from the antibacterial study could be capitalized to be administered as a potent antibacterial drug for biomedical application.